Why Chase Field is Interesting

I seriously hate it when I am right, even partially right. As I figured, the Diamondbacks hitters struggled against Tim Lincecum and the Diamondbacks did lose but it was closer than the 5-1 score I had predicted. I guess I should feel good that it wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be. It was still pretty bad though. It did feel good to be back at Chase Field. Even the worst game played is better at the ballpark than the best game on television.

It’s not that I hate the television coverage of Diamondbacks game; quite the contrary I think Fox Sports Network Arizona does a very good job producing the games. I am a little disappointed that the majority of the home games are in high definition while only a handful of away games are in HD. I would have thought it would be better to have the opposite. Home games should be broadcast in standard definition as an incentive to get fans to come to the game while away games should be in high definition since few of us have an opportunity to travel out of town with the team.

An interesting part of going to the ballpark to watch a game in person is that no matter how badly things are going, you can still find something entertaining at the game. Take last night for example, the Diamondbacks were losing and the game started to just drag by. If you were watching the game at home on television I may have been tempted to change channels. Ok that’s not true I would never change channels on a Diamondbacks game but somebody might. At the game like at home I had no remote control and therefore was stuck on this channel.

Had I been at home I would never have had the opportunity to meet the nice elderly couple who sat in the seats behind us. They had come to Chase Field to celebrate the husband’s birthday. He turned 75 yesterday and decided to spend his day at the ballpark. That is awesome! I hope that one day I can celebrate my 75th birthday and I can guarantee there is nowhere else I would rather be than at Chase Field watching a game. Making the game even more special was the fact that some friends had paid to have this guy’s birthday recognized on the JumboTron. So between the top and bottom of the fourth inning his name appeared on dbTV congratulating him on his birthday. His wife was so excited that she completely forgot to take a picture of the screen. To hear them talk though you couldn’t help but smile at the fact that we got to share his special day. So the Diamondbacks were down by 5 runs, that didn’t matter as we made a new friend and shared in a moment in his life that would only come about once.

After his dbTV introduction his cell phone rang non-stop as friends called to wish him a happy birthday. With each call he recounted seeing his name on the big screen and what it meant. Those who called immediately went to the television to find the game. The whole rest of the night whenever there was a break in the action this elderly couple would stand up waving their arms and dancing around hoping they would be on television so their friends could see them.

Besides my new senior citizen friends there were other interesting characters in the stands. There was a woman sitting near us who was having back troubles. Rather than sitting at home feeling sorry for herself she came to the game to watch the Diamondbacks. She was obviously in pain but she stuck it out the whole game. I completely empathized with her. This game was painful for me to watch too and my back felt perfectly fine. This woman brought a vibrating pillow to the game to help with her back pain. It was one of those pillows that activates when you press against it. The bad part was that it vibrated not only her seat but those around her. I felt like I had caffeine withdrawal jitters. Dakota thought it was hilarious watching me try to keep score while I was shaking like a leaf.

Every night is something different which is what brings me to the ballpark. You never know what you are going to see there and it’s rarely boring. I’ll probably never forget the night of the vibrating birthday party while the box score of the Diamondbacks loss will quickly fade from memory.

3 Comments

You bring up a valid point since both the Diamondbacks and I celebrate our birthdays during Spring Training. I guess I’ll have to be content spending my 75th birthday at Tucson Electric Park or wherever the Diamondbacks will be playing their Cactus League games at that time.